Fate/Stay Night, Fate Hollow Ataraxia, Fate Zero, Fate EXTRA, Fate Extella, Fate Apocrypha, Fate Strange Fake, Fate Prototype, Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya and Fate Grand Order are creations and properties of Type-Moon.
Fate: Executive Order.
By Over Master, with Special Thanks to Shadow Crystal Mage and Darkenning.
First Order.
Chaldea.
"Base sequence confirmed to be human genome. Spiritual Vessel's attribute confirmed to be Lawful Good, bordering on Stupid Good."
The recorded voice was fittingly soothing and easing, lulling, even. Definitely feminine as well, something that made Fujimaru Ritsuka reflect on a few things about human nature, and how we almost always are more willing to expect acceptance and support from women, and attempted dominion if not outright hostility from men.
Of course, Ritsuka wasn't the kind to normally think too deeply about complex issues not directly related to the fairly unremarkable so far developments of his everyday life (a cynic would say he didn't think at all), and he was fairly old fashioned in several gender related issues despite of his youth, so he quickly pushed those thoughts aside and continued listening to the voice of the machine reading his data. After all, he had also been educated to respect and pay attention to his elders and authority figures, even programmed ones. In short, Ritsuka was a perfectly boring main character type, of the sort to be found in one episode-only OVA specials because it's not really about him, he's just an audience avatar to walk around showcasing the hot girls.
"Welcome to the museum of humanity's future. This is the Human Continuation Facility, Chaldea."
Instinctively, he acknowledged the welcome with a humble nod, despite immediately realizing how silly that was. Even so, they might be filming that with some sort of hidden camera, so he guessed it wouldn't hurt to show as much politeness as possible either way. This sort of hyper-self-conscious paranoia should clue you in on the type of person he was.
"Fingerprint authentication, vocal authentication, and genetic authentication all clear. Magic Circuit measurement…Completed."
The voice spoke in a somewhat stiff and not that smooth Japanese. Obviously Nihongo hadn't been the original speaker's first language. Ritsuka supposed he understood the reasons behind it, since the facilities had been built by Westerners after all, but the prevalent traditionalist Japanese part in him still wondered why they couldn't have hired a native to record the greetings for the locals of the islands.
"Registered name matches. You have been acknowledged as a member of the primates."
Here Ritsuka frowned a little. Had that been a mistake in translation, or had they just called him a monkey...?
"Pleased to meet you. You are today's last visitor."
The front gates opened for him, and the tall, dark haired young man walked in, his black bag slung over his shoulder, his long overcoat and scarf tightly pressed around him, the better to protect him from the wild icy winds blowing from the merciless outdoors. As the door closed hermetically behind him with nothing but the smallest click, the recording said a few last words before turning itself off, leaving the wide and strangely empty greeting hall in a perfect silence.
"Please have a good time here..."
"Fouh…?" someone asked through the darkness. "Kyu…Kyu?"
Ritsuka woke up neither too slow nor too quickly, and yet his eyelids still felt too heavy as to be fully lifted. Through the haze in his half-open eyes, he only could get glimpses of something very white and fluffy looking.
"Fouh!" the voice repeated. "Fuu, Fouh!"
Was that the cry of some animal? It didn't sound like any animal Ritsuka knew. Besides, it kinda felt like his cheek was being licked just now. Something warm, wet and raspy ran all over it at the moment, that much was certain, and Ritsuka, who never had owned a cat or dog, couldn't help feeling slightly grossed out by it…
Chaldea's visitor finally could open his eyes all the way, and through the dissipating haze, past the small and fuzzy white quadrupedal, he found a girl standing in front of him.
She was a dutiful looking beauty with glasses and light short hair, which fell in bangs that hid most of her cute rather than gorgeous pale face. She wore a simply gray ensemble fitting the lowly intern of a large corporation, complete with a long skirt, a long open jacket over her blouse, and ugly black shoes.
"Um," the girl said after a few moments of uneasy silence, "it's neither morning or night time, so please wake up, Sempai."
"Who are you?" he asked, sitting up on the hard, cold… floor? that had been under him right then for some reason. That was, of course it was logical to have the floor under you, but not so much when you realize you had been sleeping directly on it.
"That's a hard question right off the bat, so I'll pass on answering. I'm not someone whose name is worth mentioning—-I guess?" the girl said even more awkwardly, making a point of looking aside as much as she could without changing her position.
And Ritsuka frowned, blandly as was his custom. "Is that some sort of joke?" he tried to guess.
"N-No!" she protested, suddenly growing very flustered and agitated. Even for Ritsuka, a complete stranger with no particular mental prowesses, it was already blatantly obvious this girl didn't have much in the way of social experience. "N-No, I do have a name. I do have a proper name. B-But I've rarely had the chance to use it…So like, I can't really make an impressive self-introduction or something…"
As the boy rose from the floor, dusting his pants off and causing the tiny animal to back away from him, he sighed. "It can't be any worse than mine, I suppose. I mean, I'm introducing myself to you while lying on the floor, how sad is that? What's the deal with that anyway, did I faint? I don't remember…"
She blinked. "Don't you know, Sempai? I just arrived, and you already were there, so I have no idea why you were resting on the corridor either. M-Maybe we should take you to Doctor Roman? Oh, that's right, you must be one of the newcomers, so you don't know him yet, do you?"
"Fouh!" the critter at her feet protested energetically. "Kyu, Kyuu—!"
"Ah, I forgot!" the weird girl blinked. "We haven't introduced you to Fou yet either, have we?"
"… what's with this 'we' business?" Ritsuka asked very weakly. "Are you British royalty?"
"This squirrel-like colleague is Fou," the girl said quite seriously, picking the Fou up and holding it before Ritsuka's face. "He's a Very Important Creature that freely strolls through the halls of Chaldea. He called me here, where I found you resting."
It, or he if the girl was to be believed, was an incredibly adorable creature, no larger than a bunny, with big baby blue eyes and completely white, soft looking fur covering all of his body. His ears were as long as a rabbit's, but his tail looked more like an Angora cat's. Ritsuka didn't think he really looked like a squirrel, but to each their own.
"Fouh," the little beast nodded. "Nkyu, fou!"
And then he jumped off the beauty's hands, and ran off down the corridor until he disappeared behind a corner, because Ritsuka's day hadn't been balls weird enough yet.
"He's run off somewhere again," sighed the meganekko, also proving she not only was pretty, but also a Master of the Obvious. "He's always going wherever he pleases."
"That's an animal I've never seen before," the young man commented. "From Australia, isn't it?"
"I wouldn't know, I'm not well versed on Zoology," she admitted. "But I guess it's possible. Australian animals are normally very elusive or agressive, right? And Fou doesn't approach anyone but me. But he seems to have gotten a liking for you, Sempai! Congratulations, now you are Fou's second attendant!"
Before the boy could protest he hadn't sighed up for that (although he wasn't sure yet what he had signed for), another, deeper, far more masculine voice spoke up. "Ah, so you were here, Mashu. That's no good, you have to make sure you get permission before you go any—"
The newly arrived man paused, and Ritsuka could see he was very tall. He also was easily two decades older than both teenagers, although still gifted with a certain old fashioned joviality, matching his somewhat outdated and outlandish taste in clothes. Even his hair was somewhat extravagant, to say the least, falling by his shoulders into what looked like his dark red sideburns had grown out of control devouring the sides of his face.
"Oops, looks like there was someone here already," the adult pondered. "You're… I see, you're one of the newbies assigned here today, aren't you? My name's Lev Reinol. I'm one of the technicians working here. And you are…?"
"Fujimaru Ritsuka, sir!" the boy said, quickly looking into one of his pockets and showing him his brand new ID card.
The man narrowed his eyes slightly, giving the card a good close look. He smiled again. "So you are! No prestigious name, so I take it you're one of the ten amateurs? Welcome to Chaldea, boy."
He gulped while pocketing the card back, the girl looking up and down at him curiously. "Th-Thanks. I've been told I'll need serious training on this whole magic thing since I don't have any background with it, so—"
Lev laughed, patting him on a shoulder. "Don't worry about that, we'll handle your training, you only have to be receptive to it! But you know, a lot of your fellow students, from the gifted magus families, I must warn you, they're going to make things difficult for you if you aren't careful."
The girl, who knew a lot on the subject from personal experience, only could lower her head in sorrowful silence.
"C-Careful, Sir?" the younger man gulped.
Lev nodded, losing his smile. "But don't let their words get to you, boy. Please don't be pessimistic just because you got a normal slot. The upcoming mission needs all forty eight of you."
"Forty eight!" Fujimaru gasped.
Lev blinked. "You didn't even know that? My, they just picked you off the street, didn't they? Well, make sure to pay a lot of attention to the Director's speech, then. But don't ask her on anything, she hates it when begineers do that. If you have anything you need help with, please feel free to ask either Mashu or—" Here he stopped himself again, and looked at the quiet girl. "Actually, why were you talking to him, Mashu? That really isn't like you. Were you acquainted with him previously?"
She shook her head. "No, this is the first time we've ever met. But, I truly felt no threat from him. In other words, he seems to have no hostile motives whatsoever!"
Ritsuka blinked. "Is being like that something special around here?" he asked, growing more concerned by the moment.
Lev hummed, studying his boyish face carefully. "Yes, I see what you mean, Mashu, he certainly has the look of the sedate Japanese herbivore pat down. Why, they could make a dating game around this innocent looking soul, ho ho! Don't take that as an insult, though, Ritsuka-kun. A lot of people who come into Chaldea are pretty fishy, so it's nice to meet someone who comes along as clean as a babe in the proverbial woods!"
"Thanks... I think..." Ritsuka said. "Hm, he said your name was Mashu, right?" he asked the girl then.
She nodded bashfully. "Mashu Kyrielight, to be precise. Sorry to stall with it for so long, Sempai, but— but—"
Then a loud voice blared through the speakers of the gigantic, seemingly mostly deserted so far complex. "Pay attention! This is a matter of capital importance! The initial briefing for all aspiring Masters will start in five minutes in the central control room! Anyone failing to attend will be immediately suspended from the program!"
Lev sighed. "As strict as ever, that girl... Ritsuka-kun! Hurry up, the briefing's set to take place straight at the end of this corridor! Hurry up and you'll get there in time!"
Ritsuka blinked. "Eh? Why the rush? That's a meeting for aspiring Masters, whatever that is, isn't it?"
Mashu and Lev froze, stared at Fujimaru blankly, and then chorused, "You are an aspiring Master."
"I am?!"
"What, what did you think you were going to be here, boy?!" the adult demanded, growing almost really agitated.
"... an intern over summer holiday?" he meekly guessed.
"You thought of taking a summer job... up in a building complex set in the snowy mountains?" Mashu wondered aloud.
"... I'm not that much of a beach and heat fan, actually?" he blandly offered this time.
Mashu and Lev looked at each other and shared a long suffering sigh.
The young woman standing at the podium of the gigantic Main Chaldea Observatory Conference Room was a study in contrasts. Despite of her young age, her long, braided hair was silvery white, and her conservative, modest business suit still showed rather nicely the curves hidden underneath it. Her voice, youthful in pitch, held an intimidating, even menacing, stern tone as she spoke through the speakers, keeping every member of her audience, all forty eight of them, sitting up straight in alert attendance...
"Well," she was saying, "since it seems all members are now present, the great secret organization Chaldea welcomes you all. I am chief Olga Marie Animusphere. You all have been chosen from around the globe, in some cases after taking great pains and lengths to locate and retrieve you, for a matter of the most urgent—"
A loud snore from one of the back seats of the audience rose above the expectant silence of the crowd, interrupting the words of the slim, fair skinned Director and making her clench her teeth together.
The orange haired pretty girl sitting by Ritsuka's side turned her head to him and saw the boy with his head tilted back on his seat, mouth wide open, a thin line of drool escaping out a corner of it—
A few moments later, he was much more awake as he was unceremoniously pushed out of the wide room, someone angrily shouting "AND STAY OUT!" behind his back as the door closed on him, almost snapping his ass in in the process. Cringing, he wondered what that had been about before quickly noticing Mashu was standing close by in the corridor with Fou perched on a shoulder.
"Fouh. Fouh fouh fouh!" the small animal said in a tone that actually managed to sound disapproving somehow.
"Gah!" Ritsuka gasped, startled by the unexpected presence. "You were there?!"
"Yes, always," Mashu nodded. "I'm not allowed into meetings intended for Master candidates, but I try to stand close in the event one of you needs me. What happened, Sempai? Why was the Director that angry at you?"
"Oh, that girl was the Director?" Ritsuka asked, scratching the back of his neck. "Um, well, looks like I fell asleep during her speech, I guess that must have bothered her..."
Mashu frowned. "You fell asleep randomly again, Sempai? Are you some sort of narcoleptic?"
Ritsuka blinked. "What? Ew, no! I'm not the kind of guy who wants to have sex with corpses! That's disgusting… and I was asleep at the time!"
Mashu sighed. She had never stepped out those facilities during her whole life, and yet she was more aware of how the world worked than this boy? What a depressing thought. "Never mind. They won't let you back in, so I might as well just show you the way to your room. Just wait there while I call Doctor Roman so he can give you a checkup..."
"Hm, no, thanks, I'm fine, for real," the boy said, following them down the corridor. "It's just the trip here was long and exhausting, nothing else..."
"Nonsense, you'd better rest and let us look after your health," she said as she showed him the way into one of several identical rooms after turning a few corners. Once he looked inside he liked what he saw, it was wider than the one at his house, very clean and well lit, too. There was little in the way of any furniture but a bed of white sheets, a locker and a nightstand, however. "I'll go see if I can find the Doctor, but keep in mind that could take a while, he's, ah, a bit, I mean, hm, uh, see you later, Sempai," she said before quickly retreating and awkwardly closed the door after herself.
Ritsuka stood there only blinking until he heard another voice from behind him, causing him to yelp in surprise.
"Can you believe that girl?" asked a tall, thin young man with light brown hair, which was long but conveniently kept tied back into a thick ponytail, standing up from behind Ritsuka's bed, where he had been sitting eating Pocky. He still had the can in hand and leftovers in his mouth. "Talking about me as if I were unreliable or something..."
"Wh-Who are you?!" Ritsuka asked, showing some actual emotion at last.
The stranger replied, apparently picking up the tab of acting with randomly paced complete lack of touch with the situation, although with more of an interesting quirkiness to it. "What do you mean by that? No matter where and how you look at it, I'm obviously a doctor! The head of the medical division, Romani Akkiman, to be more precise. For some reason everyone just calls me Dr. Roman, though. I guess you'll do it to, huh, huh?"
Ritsuka gulped. "W-Well, if you don't like it, I won't..."
"Not like it? When have I said I didn't like it?" the man argued. "Roman has a nice ring to it. Somehow it's got this sort of sweet, cool, careless feeling, like a busty girl who wants you to see her panties."
"Um, okay, sure thing, if you say so."
"Sure I do, it's my name and it's cool. So, what's yours?"
"Ah, I'm Player, I mean, I'm Gudao, sorry, I'm Fujimaru Ritsuka, sorry, I don't know what's happening to me today!"
"Huh, then maybe you should see a doctor. I know a few good ones." Then he laughed. "Sorry, sorry! That was some medical humor, you know? You look fairly healthy to me. A Master candidate, I take it?"
The younger male nodded.
"Then what are you doing here, instead of being at the meeting?" the specialist asked curiously.
Ritsuka chuckled bashfully. "Well, I think I fell asleep during her speech, and she—"
"Don't say any more," the Doctor gestured with a hand. "That's the Director, all right. In that case, you're just like me. To be honest, the chief's always scolding me too. More often than not about nonsense accusations, like me sneaking away to go slack off at other people's rooms, can you believe that?" he shook his head before munching on another stick of Pocky, then offering Ritsuka another. "Sorry, where are my manners?"
"Um, thank you," the sweatdropping boy nodded, accepting the Pocky.
"Well," Roman sighed, "if she doesn't outright boot you off, you'll have to ask for a recording of the speech, that's actually important stuff for all candidate Masters to learn. You know the Leyshift experiments are starting soon, right? You can't go into one of those without the proper preparation, that'd be just plain suicidal..."
"Leyshift experiments?" Ritsuka echoed. "What is a—"
And then there was a thundering, deafening boom, filling the air and greatly hurting his ears, which felt as if they were being pierced by piping hot needles. Not to mention the whole floor under them shook and quaked, and he lost all footing and dropped, losing consciousness for a moment as his head hit the tiles.
He was starting to wonder for real whether he'd spent most of his time at that place conscious or not...
"Ritsuka-kun," Dr. Roman said, lightly slapping the unconscious boy's cheeks. No, not those ones, you sickos. "I must warn you, I'm well aware how... delicate my physical appearance is, but I'm still fully heterosexual and I won't be giving you mouth-to-mouth. Since you don't need it anyway. So you'd better wake up on your own."
"Ooohhhh..." Ritsuka woke up slowly, muttering and putting a hand to his aching head. Whether he woke up on his own conveniently at that exact moment or if the doctor's words had anything to do with it will be an exercise left to each particular reader. "Wh-Where am I, no, rather, what hap-"
Gently helping him back to his feet because it was a matter of survival not wasting any time, the medic explained, "There was a huge explosion and the lights went out. I mean, not only for you. However, they blinked back shortly before you did, so at least we know the emergency power of the complex is still working. Come on. Can you walk?"
"Y-Yeah, I think so..."
"Good," Roman said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and carefully leading him towards the door. "Let's find the others and hope there's no much need for my services, then..."
As they walked out of the room, stepping into a deserted hallway, they heard an urgent announcement in Director Animusphere's voice coming through the speakers that apparently where everywhere.
"This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill!" she was saying. "A fire has started in the central power plant and central control room. Our emergency teams are rushing out to deal with the situation, so you are to remain calm! The central division bulkhead will be closing in ninety seconds. All personnel but the strictly necessary, please quickly evacuate from the second gate..."
Ritsuka clenched his teeth. "A terrorist attack...?"
"That'd be horribly foolish from anyone living on this planet, since we are its last and only hope," Roman sighed, "but you never know nowadays. It could be Scientologists, or Christian Fundamentalists, or Islamic Extremists, or Hare Krishnas. Professor Lev himself has designed the whole current infrastructure, so it's unlikely it failed just because..."
"The guy with the funny hair?" Ritsuka asked while the doctor helped him down the corridor. "Demonic Abe Lincoln?"
"Hey, never judge a book by its cover or a man by his hairdo," chided the specialist as they walked, hearing even more sirens of alarm and distant rushed steps along the way. "Geez, this place's a maze, though, if only Mashu were here..."
"Doctor!" Lev's voice shouted from a metallic pin on the chest of his shirt. "Can you hear me, Doctor? We need you at the Conference Hall, there are several wounded in the attendance! I think... many of them will need to undergo cryogenic freezing before we can save them! Come immediately, Doctor!"
"Huh?" Roman blinked, stopping and looking around helplessly. "But, but what's the way there, I don't think I can..."
Ritsuka groaned, pointing back the way from where they had come, and further down the hallway, trying to remember the way Mashu had taken while leading him to his room. "Over there, I think... Go, quick, leave me here, I'll only drag you down..."
Roman gulped, helping him to sit down on the floor, his back against a wall. "Are you sure?" When the boy nodded, the doctor tried to smile at him. "Good fellow. I'll send for help as soon as I can. In the meanwhile, please stay here unless you absolutely have to take shelter. In the event of a disaster, the-"
"DOCTOR!" Lev's voice shouted through the pin.
"On my way!" Roman gasped, springing back to his feet from his current kneeling position, all the while Ritsuka sighed and gestured for him to go. The boy was slowly drifting back into a heavy stupor, unable to understand Roman's last few words before the man dashed out of sight. Feeling numb all over, the newcomer slumped down, sliding onto the floor, losing his energy and awareness yet again, even through the sound of yet another powerful explosion rattling the whole building...
"Oh God. I think I might need a cigarette. I've never smoked before, but this... this..." Doctor Roman trailed off at the sight of the carnage displayed before him.
"Pull yourself back together, Doctor," Professor Lev grimly grimly instructed, leading him through the wreckage of the conference room. "We can get more flatscreen TVs. Fortunately, the Director managed to duck under the podium in time and it shielded her. She only received minor injuries. What little surviving staffers I could gather rounded up the wounded candidates and are delivering them into cryostasis as we speak, with the Director herself supervising them."
"Then I should be there," the Doctor protested while flinching as he had to navigate around another mangled TV still in the wreckage, taking care to only step on the dead bodies so as not to be disrespectful. "Where are you taking me? Ah, I know I look kinda girly, but I feel I should remind you that– "
"You already told me you were heterosexual today, Doctor. This had to be sabotage," Lev explained, "and I might need medical assistance while going into the basement's power plant. Not to mention we could find more- ah," he stopped, as they had just ran into another unexpected find while passing through another highly damaged room in their way down the complex.
"Mashu!" Roman gasped, rushing past the now immobile Lev and crouching down by the downed girl's side. She had the lower half of her body stuck under a large pile of rubble, her face bloodied and her breath coming out in stiff, short pants and rasps. He immediately grabbed her by a wrist and took her pulse. "Good Lord, Mashu, hold on there! Whatever you do, try to stay conscious, and please tell me-" There he paused and looked back past his shoulder. "Professor! What are you doing, why aren't you calling some guards?! We can't lift this off her on our own, and we also need a stretcher, and-!"
Lev's face had lost all expression, becoming a shadowy mask of mysterious somberness. "It is pointless, now. It has started."
"What has started?!" Roman demanded, and then it dawned on him, making his voice grow very small and quiet. "Oh, no..."
The speakers somehow came alive again, just to deliver some static filled message that nonetheless was still clearly audible. This time not with Olga's voice, but one that was far more mechanic and inhuman sounding, nearly flat in its delivery of disaster. "Warning to all observing staff. Chaldeas' current status is changing. Shiva's observed near future data is being overwritten. Detecting no traces of humanity on Earth in the next hundred years. Unable to confirm humanity's survival. Humanity's future is not guaranteed..."
Mashu coughed and said, wheezing for air, "I am sorry, Professor... Looks like I still couldn't manifest after all, I, I... failed you..."
"Don't be sorry, there's nothing you could have done," Lev matter-of-factly said, still standing on the same spot. "We have entered Red Stage now. We only can wait and brace ourselves for the outcome..."
"Center bulkhead sealed," the speakers announced. "Beginning cleansing of internal structure in 180 seconds. Please take the necessary security measures. Have a nice day."
Mashu whimpered, closing her eyes and her small fists impotently. "It's all lost... Too late..."
"We'll manage somehow," Roman promised, placing a hand gently on her scalp.
"Unable to access status of vitals of preserved Masters," was the next announcement. "Unable to reach the minimum of individual required to Leyshift. Seeking eligible Masters... eligible Masters discovered. But no available Servant at hand for him. Incomplete procedure. Leyshift Operation Collapse in three..."
"Please, God," Roman prayed, tightening his closed eyes. "You used to like me, remember? Help?"
"... two..."
"..." Lev said, his face still the same.
"... One."
"I don't want to die," Mashu whispered, lowering her head.
"Error in the procedure. Repeat, error in the procedure. Immediate system crash in-" the automatized voice spoke one last time.
And then, the whole world went scarlet around everyone.
To be Continued.